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227

MINI-COOPER COMPETITION

Mini-Cooper Competition - 227

page last updated: 25 October 2011

The more you look at the Corgi Mini, the better it gets. At a time when Dinky were nowhere in terms of detail and when even the Corgi range still mostly had tin bottoms along comes this fully die cast little car with excellent modelling and a detailed base. It's just let down by its view from the back.

Probably to cash in on the Mini-Cooper's success in racing Corgi very quickly pinch the decals of the Aston Martin Competition model and produce a racing Mini. It looks good too. Painting your roof white was always a sign that you'd souped up your mini - like checker tape on your Anglia. Once upon a time I stated here that I'd never seen a green one, and cast doubts upon its existence even though Mr van Cleemput in his 'Great Book of Corgi' says 'also known in green'. Now I own one I know that it exists - although it is not listed in Ramsay

The Mini-Cooper Competition was produced from 1962 to 1965. It is bright blue, pale yellow or very pale green, roofs and bonnets are usually, but not always, white. They always have crossed flags on the bonnet and can have racing number 1, 3 or 7. Values are high for all variants but the one to look for is the yellow one with white roof and bonnet and red interior or any of the pale green ones.

The green one at the bottom I bought thinking it was a yellow one I could sell on - because it was badly advertised and very cheap, however when I got it home and compared it to the yellow one I discovered that it's not yellow after all, but very, very pale green - the same pale green as the Airborne Camper and the base of the Quartermaster Dragster. This is the rare one - shame it's such a heap.

I had been looking for these for ages and they all came my way in the same week. Mini Cooper Competition models usually go for a lot of cash, regardless of condition. These were bargains, simply because they were put up for sale without enough care from the seller. They were on eBay and none was advertised as what it was, nor had gallery pictures. The yellow one cost me £3.20 for a mixed lot including a half way decent 226 Mini in blue. The Cooper was in the background, filthy and neither car had tyres, you just didn't spot it. I then picked up a second yellow (now known to be green) for £2.30 - its photo was so blurred you could not see that it was two-tone it just looked white, and there were no tyres. You could just make out the crossed flags if you knew what you were looking for.

The blue one cost £4.50. To be fair it had lost one of its door decals - the ones in the pictures are replacements, but the seller had managed to take a picture from the side so square on that it was impossible to see from the picture that the roof and bonnet were white, and it was taken from the side with no decal so it just looked like a plain blue mini. The description mentioned the white paint and the flags, but it's the pictures that make the sale.

To be fair these are all a bit rough and may not have made that much more, but it is a good lesson both in buying and selling on eBay. In both cases you have to be properly informed about the product. However when selling you must act like a retailer and make your products look as good as possible while remaining honest in your descriptions. As a buyer - look out for badly presented auctions you never know what might be lurking there - and lastly, search on spelling mistakes - I got a lovely VW recently at a bargain price by searching on 'Volkswagon'